The present invention relates to footboards for beds and more particularly to footboards that are convertible to perform more than one function.
Hospital rooms typically are not provided with much furniture beyond a bed, a bed stand, and perhaps a chair. The hospital bed typically is not provided with any storage space. Thus, when the hospital staff moves a patient's bed from one room to another while supporting the patient during the move, an additional member of the hospital staff may be required to gather the patient's personal effects and physically carry them to the new location.
Various hospital records associated with the care of a patient typically are kept on a clipboard that is attached to the footboard of the bed. This arrangement places these records in full view of persons, such as visitors, who do not need and perhaps should not have, access to such records. Moreover, the preparation of these records would be facilitated by a convenient writing surface in the vicinity of the footboard of the bed. Unless a food service tray happens to be on the bed at the time the records are being prepared, such writing surface often is not available.